Market Update - Spring 2018

As predicted, the real estate market is off to a fantastic start for 2018, keeping pace with its record-shattering performance in 2017, with unprecedented Seller’s Market conditions.

Seven out of our 11 municipalities saw median price increases between 10 and 20% while inventory has dropped from 20-50% depending on the municipality.

Buyers continue to face stiff competition, with multiple offers becoming the norm on well-priced, well located homes.

Inventory continues to be a significant factor in many municipalities particularly in the under $1,000,000 price ranges. We have begun to see inventory rise in the luxury segment as news of the hot market has spurred some speculative pricing from some luxury sellers.

The increase in foreign buyer activity continues to play a big factor in driving demand across all price ranges as Montreal still does not have a foreign buyer tax. This may change in the not-too-distant future so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Under Quebec’s investor program, immigrants with more than $1.6 million in net assets can settle in Quebec if they agree to invest a minimum of $800,000 over a ﬁve-year term. Therefore, wealthy immigrants who land in Montreal are even more likely to invest in high-end residential property. We also see the new light rail train attracting investors who feel that property along this new rail line will see some positive appreciation over the next few years and beyond.

We don’t see any signs of a cool down unless inventory begins to rise again signiﬁcantly. If you are thinking of selling, now is as good a time as any. We currently have dozens of pre-qualiﬁed buyers who cannot ﬁnd a home so feel free to reach out to see if we can help.